120 snow leopards found in Dolpa, survey result reveals

KATHMANDU, April 21: The latest result of snow leopard survey has been made public on Friday.

According to the result, a significant number of snow leopards were counted outside the conserved areas of Dolpa.

A systematic camera tap survey conducted during five months from April through August 2023 had confirmed the number of snow leopards in eastern Dolpa area outside the Shey-Phoksundo National Park.

The survey undertaken with support from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal estimated the snow leopard density to be 1.5 per 100 square kilometres. It has thus been confirmed that there are 30 snow leopards in the study area.

A similar survey conducted four years ago inside the park had estimated the density of leopards to be 2.2 per 100 square kilometers. On this basis, 90 snow leopards were confirmed in the conserved area. With this, the total number of snow leopard in Dolpa has increased to 120. It is the highest number of snow leopard in Nepal, the survey result stated.

Snow leopards are rare, endangered and protected wildlife found in high mountainous environment.